Chapter 455: The Cruel Truth of Heroes
The Cruel Truth of Heroes
Not for some grand definition.
For moments.
Real moments.
The frightened faces of people she had protected.
The hands that had reached toward her when everything seemed hopeless.
The relief in someone’s eyes after being rescued.
The smiles that had appeared when danger finally passed.
She remembered the fear she had felt.
The exhaustion.
The pain.
The times she had wondered whether she could continue.
And yet she had always continued.
She remembered Victor.
Her childhood sweetheart.
The person whose presence had become intertwined with so many of her memories.
The thought of him made something warm stir inside her chest.
Whatever else she had learned today, she couldn’t simply throw away every feeling she possessed.
She opened her eyes.
Her sapphire gaze was clearer now.
Even with the terrifying possibility that her destiny had shaped her, something inside her remained unwilling to surrender.
"A hero is someone that’s there for the people."
Her voice was quiet at first.
Niklaus listened.
Videl continued.
"A hero is someone who responds to everyone’s cry for help, even from those that have not the voice to speak the words!"
Her voice strengthened.
"A hero is someone everyone can rely on when despair creeps in!"
She clenched her fist.
"A hero is someone that makes the impossible, possible!"
The hesitation that had plagued her earlier began to disappear.
"And most of all for me a hero is someone that protects everyone’s smiling faces!"
Her final words rang through the chamber.
At the beginning of her speech, Videl had been speaking normally.
But as she continued, the emotion inside her grew stronger.
Her voice rose.
Her eyes became brighter.
She wasn’t merely repeating some ideal she had been taught.
She was defending something.
Something that still belonged to her.
Even if destiny had placed the desire to become a hero inside her heart, the people she had saved were real.
Their smiles were real.
Their suffering had been real.
The hands she had reached for had been real.
And perhaps that was enough for her to keep searching for the answer.
Niklaus watched her quietly.
Then, unexpectedly, the corner of his mouth lifted.
"Well, that’s nice."
Videl blinked.
Niklaus leaned back slightly.
"Now let me tell you what I think a hero is."
His tone changed.
There was no warmth in it now.
Only experience.
"I think a hero is a faceless nobody that changes depending on what the public wants."
Videl’s expression slowly became serious.
"I think a hero is a powerful weapon used to change the tide of battle."
Niklaus’s gaze hardened.
"I think a hero is a selfish being that only wants his point of view to be heard."
The words were harsh.
Videl instinctively frowned.
Niklaus noticed but didn’t stop.
"Well, that’s my opinion on the matter."
He gave a small shrug.
"But that’s not what I want to tell you."
The room fell quiet.
Outside the chamber, wind passed through the distant trees. The faint sound of leaves rubbing together reached them through the stone walls.
Niklaus’s expression became distant.
"After living for centuries and being freed from my duties as a hero I got a glimpse of what the true role of a Natural hero was."
Videl remained silent.
She could tell from his voice that the following words were not something Niklaus had learned from a book.
They came from experience.
From centuries of living with questions that perhaps had no satisfying answers.
"First off I need to tell you what I’m about to say is simply my opinion, but I think that the Natural hero’s and the Chosen hero’s true role was to bring balance to this world."
Niklaus paused.
"Balance."
The word lingered.
"In truth, a Natural hero and a Chosen hero could also become a villain and the villain could become the hero, it doesn’t really matter."
Videl’s eyebrows drew together.
Niklaus continued calmly.
"The only thing that matters is a balance."
He had once believed that was the answer.
Perhaps heroes were never meant to be symbols of absolute justice.
Perhaps villains were never meant to be absolute evil.
Perhaps the world itself required opposing forces.
A hero might fall.
A villain might change.
Someone born beneath the banner of justice could become a monster, while someone feared by everyone could one day save thousands.
Destiny, in that sense, might not care about morality.
It might only care about maintaining a particular order.
"That’s what I thought at first when I was freed from my destiny as a hero, but it turned out the truth was worse than I thought."
Videl’s stomach tightened.
Niklaus’s crimson-golden eyes seemed to darken.
"I don’t know much about the other types of heroes, but for the Natural Hero, the truth is we are nothing more than an experiment."
Videl stared at him.
An experiment.
The word struck harder than she expected.
"Every natural hero is just a pawn in a game, set up by some beings of an upper realm."
Niklaus slowly folded his arms.
"These beings are similar to Gods but at the same time different."
He paused, his expression revealing genuine uncertainty.
"Well, that’s what I understood based on what I saw, to tell you the truth I’m not really sure about it."
Videl’s lips parted slightly.
She had been prepared to hear something terrible.
But somehow, hearing the word experiment made everything feel colder.
A pawn could at least belong to a game.
A weapon could at least have a purpose.
But an experiment?
That meant someone was watching.
Someone was observing what happened.
Someone was changing variables.
Someone was waiting to see what the result would be.
Her hands slowly curled into fists.
The fear inside her was no longer the wild panic from before.
It was quieter now.
Sharper.
She looked directly at Niklaus.
"What do you mean an experiment?"
Videl’s question came out almost immediately.
The words were simple, but the way she spoke them betrayed how deeply they had struck her.